Pets allowed
Not Allowed
Elevation Gain
600.00 ft (182.88 m)
Trail type
Loop
Distance
2.90 mi (4.67 km)
Please respect the outdoors by practicing Leave No Trace. Learn more about how to apply the principles of Leave No Trace on your next outdoor adventure here.

Combining the Navajo Loop Trail's descent into the Silent City and the Queen's Garden Trail you get Bryce Canyon National Park's most iconic and popular day hike. It's an absolutely unique experience you won't find anywhere else on earth!

2.9 miles in total length, the trail starts at Sunset Point, where you'll quickly hike a down 500 feet on a steep set of switchbacks into the vibrant orange, unworldly Silent City. The Silent City is the park's densest clustering of eroded pinnacle-like formations, called hoodoos.* Here, traveling through the slot canyon referred to as Wall Street, canyon walls tower hundreds of feet above the trail where the Utah desert's clear blue sky provides incredible contrast to the sedimentary rock.

Passing through Wall Street, the amphitheater slowly opens to Bryce Creek and the high desert landscape dominated by ponderosa pines, western junipers, and green manzanita brush. Climbing back up to the canyon rim,** you'll enjoy passing through the Queen's Garden, a loose cluster of hoodoos, where views open as far east as the neighboring Escalante Mountains.

* Hoodoos are thin, spire-like formations commonly found in arid drainages of sedimentary rock. Over time, weather erodes softer rock and leaves harder rock to remain. In contrast to spires or pinnacles, hoodoos are distinct because of their variable form and thickness that reflects differentiation in the hardness of the soil/rock.

** Geologically speaking, Bryce Canyon is technically not considered a canyon; rather, it is a series of amphitheaters on the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

Logistics + Planning

Preferable season(s)

Winter
Spring
Fall

Congestion

High

Parking Pass

National Park Pass

Pros

Hike through Bryce Canyon's iconic Silent City. Panoramic views.

Cons

Very heavily used. Snow-packed in winter.

Trailhead Elevation

8,010.00 ft (2,441.45 m)

Features

Big vistas
Geologically significant

Location

Comments

11/05/2016
One of our favorite NPs for it's size and absolute beauty! Was there early November and enjoyed the low season crowd.
07/04/2014
I have been very fortunate to be in National Parks on the 4th of July, and 7/4/2014 I made it to Bryce Canyon for this trail. The best part was getting their early enough that it didn't even feel like a day that the park was supposed to be packed. The hike was beautiful and challenging enough that I felt accomplished by the end of the day
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